Clawson Cleanup Business Donates Usable Items to Those in Need

Some people might view everything discarded as part of a cleanup as trash, but not Clawson's Bill Trivett.

Trivett, owner of BT Commercial Services LLC, sees ways to help as part of his dumpster rental and estate cleanout business.

"We assess items and see if they can be reused," Trivett said. "We work with a couple local organizations and they let us know if they can put it to use."

Trivett also scours the interent looking for lesser-known group's wish lists of donations. He's worked with a Clawson area senior group to provide walkers, canes and wheelchairs. He's also worked with local churches, shelters and organizations to provide other items.

He got his start donating items after becoming frustrated after trying to donate wood that had been used for boarded up buildings in Detroit and being turned down because the wood had primer on it.

"No one would take it," Trivett said.

He looked online and found a church that helped families, whose homes had burned out by fires, and donated the wood to help them rebuild. He also donated some of the wood to a toy company in Lansing that used it to make toys for kids in crisis.

Trivett recently submitted information about his business through the Patch Small Business Spotlight. Here are his answers.

How did your business come to be? 

We started out as a dumpster rental business in 2008. As the automotive industry was imploding, and plants were closing, it was time to branch off and start the business. We evolved to estate cleanouts, live loading of junk and debris, flood and storm cleanup and more.

What's your most popular product or service? 

10 yard dumpster rentals that can be placed inside garages.

What's a fact about your business that most customers probably don't know?

We scour the internet searching for organizations/wish-lists where we can donate usable items. We just offered over 50 27" TV's free to the Hazel Park Rec Center with City Edge Church.

We were part of a volunteer group that helped out in New Jersey after Superstorm Sandy. We held a "Scrapping for Sandy" Scrap drive. We provided a dumpster for scrap metals to be used to cover expenses for a volunteer trip to Tom's River New Jersey to cleanup after Hurricane Sandy.

What does your business offer? 

Estate cleanout and office /commercial equipment removals. We rent roll-off and rubber wheeled dumpsters, provide commercial and municipal recycling, snow removal and salting services. We provide content removal for flood emergencies, foreclosures and other property exits.

Our estate cleanout service offers professional and compassionate service to families that have lost parents, grandparents or other family members and are left with the responsibility of preparing a home, apartment or condominium for sale or exit. Our experience and owner supervision on each job sets us apart from our competition and adds a positive light to an unfortunate situation. Most of our jobs are completed in one day and items are donated, repurposed or recycled shortly afterward giving another family, individual or organization a needed item or items.

When was the business founded?

2008

Why did you choose the area you did?

I grew up in Royal Oak and now live in Clawson. We are a mobile business servicing the Metro Detroit area.

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